1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to recording medium stackers that stack recording media discharged from a recording apparatus and recording apparatuses provided with such recording medium stackers.
2. Related Art
Recording apparatuses that record predetermined images (including text, graphics, and so on) by applying a recording agent (such as a liquid) onto a recording medium (such as paper) are known. Such recording apparatuses typically include recording medium stackers (called simply “stackers” hereinafter) that support and stack recording media discharged to the outside of the apparatus. In order to make this type of stacker more compact when the recording apparatus is not in use, a pull-out structure is employed, where the support surface that supports the discharged recording media is formed using multiple components and the surface area of the support surface is increased by pulling one of the components out from other components.
For example, JP-A-2003-95518 proposes a stacker in which an approximately horizontally-oriented support surface (stacker surface) is formed in a connected manner, where a first pull-out portion is pulled out from a stacker base portion and a second pull-out portion is pulled out from the first pull-out portion. According to this stacker, a discharged recording medium can be moved smoothly along the approximately horizontal support surface formed in a connected manner by the stacker base portion, the first pull-out portion, and the second pull-out portion.
However, because the stacker disclosed in JP-A-2003-95518 is formed so that the support surface extends in an approximately horizontal direction using the multiple components, there is a problem in that the footprint of the stacker in the horizontal direction increases when the stacker is in use. Accordingly, a configuration in which the support surface, which is formed in a connected manner in which one component is pulled out from another component, is slanted partway through has been recently proposed, as exemplified by the configuration disclosed in JP-A-2008-303000. In other words, the discharged paper stacker apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2008-303000 includes a leading end stacker that is pulled out from an intermediate stacker, at which point the tip area of the leading end stacker is held on the intermediate stacker in a raised, slanted orientation by a holding mechanism portion.
Incidentally, with the discharged paper stacker apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2008-303000, the holding mechanism portion is configured of a locking convex portion formed in a flexible base end area of the leading end stacker on the opposite side thereof as the pull-out direction, a locking projection formed in the intermediate stacker and formed in the base end area of the intermediate stacker in the pull-out direction, and a locking groove being formed in the leading end area of the intermediate stacker in the pull-out direction. In other words, the configuration is such that when the leading end stacker is pulled out, the flexible base end area thereof flexes, allowing the locking convex portion to pass over the locking projection, and the locking convex portion and locking groove interlock in the pull-out direction after the leading end stacker has been pulled out. Accordingly, when a load is placed upon the leading end stacker due to the weight of the stacked recording media in a pulled-out state, in principle, a force is exerted on the base end area of the leading end stacker (and specifically, the area where the locking convex portion that has interlocked with the locking groove is formed). Accordingly, because the base end area of the leading end stacker is made flexible in order to allow for bending during pull-out, there is the risk that deformation, breakage, and so on will occur due to loads placed thereupon; therefore this configuration has been unsuitable for stackers in which particularly large loads are placed on the holding mechanism portion.